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Your presence is mandatory : a novel / Sasha Vasilyuk.

Vasilyuk, Sasha, (author.).

Summary:

"A riveting debut novel of family secrets, based on real events, about a Jewish, Ukrainian veteran with a secret that could land him in the gulag, and his wife and children who are forced to live in the shadow of all he has not told them. Yefim Shulman, husband, father, grandfather, and war veteran, was beloved by his family and his coworkers. But in the days after his death, his widow finds an old letter to the KGB in his briefcase. Yefim had a lifelong secret, and his confession letter reveals what he'd hidden from all who knew him. Your Presence Is Mandatory moves between Yefim's struggles as a Ukrainian Jew in Hitler's Germany, his years concealing from the Soviet authorities and his family the choices he made to survive the war, and the effect his coverup had on the lives of his wife Nina and two children in Donbas, Ukraine between WWII and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. From Germany's prison camps and forced labor system to the Soviet culture of pride and paranoia, Sasha Vasilyuk grapples with the crushing weight of history on one family, and what grace they find in the course of their survival"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781639731534 (hardcover)
  • Physical Description: 318 pages ; 25 cm
  • Publisher: New York : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024.
Subject: Families > Fiction.
Family secrets > Fiction.
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) > Ukraine > Fiction.
Veterans > Fiction.
World War, 1939-1945 > Jews > Fiction.
Genre: Historical fiction.
Domestic fiction.
Novels.

Available copies

  • 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Cookstown Branch FIC Vasil 31681010369932 FICTION Available -

  • Baker & Taylor
    In 2007 Ukraine, after Yefim Shulman, beloved husband, grandfather and World War II veteran, passes away, his widow Nina finds a letter to the KGB in his briefcase that reveals his lifelong secret, which forces them to reassess the man they thought they knew and the country he defended.
  • McMillan Palgrave

    Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

    A riveting debut novel, based on real events, about a World War II veteran with a secret that could land him in the Gulag, and his family who are forced to live in the shadow of all he has not told them.

    Ukraine, 2007. Yefim Shulman, husband, grandfather and war veteran, was beloved by his family and his coworkers. But in the days after his death, his widow Nina finds a letter to the KGB in his briefcase. Yefim had a lifelong secret, and his confession forces them to reassess the man they thought they knew and the country he had defended.

    In 1941, Yefim is a young artillerist on the border between the Soviet Union and Germany, eager to defend his country and his large Jewish family against Hitler's forces. But surviving the war requires sacrifices Yefim never imagined-and even when the war ends, his fight isn't over. He must conceal his choices from the KGB and from his family.

    Spanning seven decades between World War II and the current Russia-Ukraine conflict, Your Presence Is Mandatory traces the effect Yefim's coverup had on the lives of Nina, their two children and grandchildren. In the process, Sasha Vasilyuk shines a light on one family caught between two totalitarian regimes, and the grace they find in the course of their survival.

  • McMillan Palgrave

    Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

    A riveting debut novel, based on real events, about a World War II veteran with a secret that could land him in the Gulag, and his family who are forced to live in the shadow of all he has not told them.


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